We hope this newsletter finds you, your family and friends in good health and spirits.
It has been a busy few weeks at the farm due to the school holidays.
A big thank you to all the devotees and guests who helped out at the farm during this period. It really helps the temple devotees when visiting guests and devotees share in the service around the temple. It was lovely to see children sweeping the path around the temple and then asking what else they could do to help.
Also thank you to the devotees from Sydney who set up a stall selling treats to raise money for the cows as it created a lot of interest in our cow sponsorship program.
Best regards,
The New Gokula Team
COVID-19 UPDATE
Due to new laws surrounding the current pandemic GUESTS WANTING TO VISIT THE FARM MUST BOOK ONLINE via our website www.newgokula.com
This booking should be done in ADVANCE, especially for weekends, festival days, long weekends and holiday periods.
We are limited in the number of people we can accommodate at the farm and you may be turned away if you don’t have a booking Upon arrival at the farm, visitors are now required to sanitise their hands, provide their name and number for our records and have their temperature taken.
We are only allowed 15 people in the temple room at anytime. During arotik guests will only have a limited amount of time in the temple to ensure everyone can take darsharn of the deities.
The prasadam hall is limited to 50 people at the one time. You may be asked to line up outside or come back at a later time while prasadam is being served. In the prasadam hall we ask that visitors be aware of social distancing regulations and they are encouraged to eat outside in our beautiul garden.
We thank you for your patience and understanding as we implement these new procedures.
Whats been happening at the farm?
School Holidays
It has been a busy period over the school holidays with hundreds of guests visiting the farm. The beautiful spring weather gave us the opportunity to enjoy kirtan out in the garden and guests were also treated to a special drama about Krishna and Radha’s pastimes performed by visiting children.
Peacock Mating Season
We have entered the breeding season for peacocks at the farm and the male peacocks are putting on a show for all the guests. During the mating season the males spread their iridescent tail feathers in a fan shape and strut back and forth, shaking their feathers to produce a rattling noise to get the peahens’ attention. It really is a remarkable sight, come and visit the farm to get an up close look at these magnificent birds.
A new hothouse for the farm
Manapati Prabhu and Tom Prabhu are busy with the new hot house at the farm, getting the fields ready for planting and drilling holes for all the fruit trees they are going to plant. In the hothouse they have planted hundreds of seeds in pots of a wide variety including watermelon, pumpkin, zucchini and tomato. They also have a variety of fruit trees to plant including nectarine, pear, apple and orange. It is a big project for the two of them and with the weather warming up it is hard work but Manapati is determined to see that the farm produce its own food.
Volunteer Opportunities
We are looking for volunteers that can come and perform service at the temple on a regular basis. If you would like to do some service at the temple there is always a range of service opportunities available. Bring the family along and get involved in this wonderful opportunity to serve Sri Sri Radha Gokulananda. For more information please email the farm at newgokula@gmail.com
Feeding the Cows
Visitors are always asking what they can bring to feed the cows. A cows stomach is surprisingly sensitive for such a large animal and it is because of this that we recommend only bringing apples, bananas and carrots to feed them. We also have molasses balls made for the cows which you can buy from the shop for $5 for two. If you are visiting on a Saturday or Sunday we feed the cows after prasadam is served.
The Bhakti Tree – Service Opportunity
Would you like to join the Bhakti Tree team?
The Bhakti Tree is seeking expressions of interest from people interested in cooking at our restaurant in Newcastle. At present, we have two wonderful Indian brahman devotee cooks who both must return home to India within the coming months. The Bhakti Tree is a vegetarian/vegan restaurant, so the person chosen will need to be a strict vegetarian. All our food is cooked with love and devotion and offered to Lord Jaganath, so our new cook also needs to be practising Bhakti yoga.
The Bhakti Tree is a registered charity and is a branch of the New Gokula farm/ISKCON Radha Krsna temple. Apart from selling prasadam and holding weekly kirtan sessions, all our profits go to support our cow sanctuary/farm.
If the successful applicant requires to relocate to Newcastle, suitable full- time accommodation is available on the premises. Ideally the successful candidate will have some previous work experience in the hospitality cooking sectors.
If you are interested in this wonderful opportunity please make contact asap or if you know of somebody who may be suitable please pass on the contact details to them.
Suitable candidates, who have a passion for and experience in cooking, should send an email with their resume to –thebhaktitree@gmail.com– and/or contact the restaurant manager Brett on, 0448 908 612 for further information about this unique opportunity. Thank you.
Festival weekend with Ramai Maharaj
Kirtan Mela
Saturday 14th November
11.30am – 8pm
Under the marquee outside the temple hall
Join us for a day of sacred sound led by kirtan artists from New Gokula Farm, North Sydney Temple and Govindas.
Govardhan Puja
Sunday 15th November
Program
10am Kirtan
11am Cow Puja
11.45am Discourse by Ramai Maharaj
12.30pm Worship of Goverdhan Hill
1.15pm Performance
1.30pm Prasadam
If you would like to attend Govardhan Puja at the Temple it is essential to book well in advance via our website www.newgokula.com
Devotee Spotlight
Kaliya Krishna Das
Kaliya Krishna first met the Hare Krishnas in the Sydney CBD in 1978 when he was waiting for a bus. An enthusiastic devotee approached him and gave him a Bhagavad Gita. This sparked his interest as he had been exploring alternative philosophy for awhile. Not long after this he attended the Ratha Yatra Festival in Sydney and was mesmerised by the amazing prasadam, the colourful drama performance and the enthusiastic kirtan. Two days later he joined the Surry Hills temple. He was completely reassured by the warmth of the devotees and very inspired by the philosophy, but he says that he views himself as a true prasadam bhakta! A prasadam addict, it was all about the prasadam! He has memories of eating large quantities of laddu and samosa with apple chutney. His love for devotional service only arose as a result of rendering service to the deities in between eating the prasadam.
In 1981 he left Australia for New Zealand where he was married and two of his three children were born. In New Zealand he primarily raised funds for the Auckland temple development. Kaliya Krishna was originally initiated by Bhavananda Maharaj but later took shelter under Prabhuvishnu Maharaj. In 1991 he came back to Australia where he was the Adelaide temple manager for 2 years before relocating to the New Gokula Farm. Here he performed a range of services including Deity worship, cooking and looking after the cows. In 2007 He took over the management of the Farm. Kaliya Krishna says his favourite service is performing dramas about Krishna’s pastimes and looking after the cows. Thank you for your service Kaliya Krishna Das.
Hare Krishna.
Having served at Bhaktivedanta Manor Cow Protection project all through the 1980's i would not recommend cows be fed with Apples. The cows can have a series of complications with apples. at least if you do feed apples to cows its best to cut them up. Cows cant chew apples and will swallow them whole which can kill them. And even then they can bloat from the gas that apples produce in the cows stomach.
Chopped carrots and chopped brassica family are all good. But for Milking cows its best just to feed them grass and especially grass that has had the full moon shine. The milk produced at this time is best for making Ghee and Vedic Butter ( not Butter made from just Cream). With whole milk you add a culture of yogurt to it and leave it for up to 48 hours and then make Butter, its so much healthier this way and so much tastier. And as long as you feed the Cows organically grown Grass this will produce the best Butter and Ghee. Once you feed the Cows other foods especially from outside source the milk will be contaminated from chemicals and so the products are reduced in quality.
Hare Krishna.
Having served at Bhaktivedanta Manor Cow Protection project all through the 1980's i would not recommend cows be fed with Apples. The cows can have a series of complications with apples. at least if you do feed apples to cows its best to cut them up. Cows cant chew apples and will swallow them whole which can kill them. And even then they can bloat from the gas that apples produce in the cows stomach.
Chopped carrots and chopped brassica family are all good. But for Milking cows its best just to feed them grass and especially grass that has had the full moon shine. The milk produced at this time is best for making Ghee and Vedic Butter ( not Butter made from just Cream). With whole milk you add a culture of yogurt to it and leave it for up to 48 hours and then make Butter, its so much healthier this way and so much tastier. And as long as you feed the Cows organically grown Grass this will produce the best Butter and Ghee. Once you feed the Cows other foods especially from outside source the milk will be contaminated from chemicals and so the products are reduced in quality.